St. Paddy’s Day is Coming!

This could be your dinner Thursday!

If you’re an Irish-American like me, you might be planning to cook some corned beef for dinner this Thursday. Even if you’re not Irish, you can still join in the St. Paddy’s Day tradition. This year I decided to try something a little different — making my own corned beef.

If you search for recipes online, you’ll find that a lot of them call for either salt peter (potassium nitrate), a preservative used in gun powder, stump removal products and cigarettes (need I go on?!) or pink salt (sodium nitrite), the preservative used in commercial corned beef production, which can cause migraines and other bad stuff (possibly gastric cancer). Of course, eating corned beef once a year won’t kill you, but why not make it yourself without any preservatives at all?

The preservatives are what gives the meat its pink color so if you do omit the preservatives your meat will look brown (but it will still taste the same!). Making homemade corned beef is an easy process, but it does take several days, so start today!

Homemade Corned BeefServes 4 with leftovers for the corned beef hash or a reuben sandwich – (I’ll post these recipes later this week!)

1 (4 to 5 lb.) beef brisket

2 quarts water

¾ cup kosher salt

½ cup brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

1 tablespoon pickling spices

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 bay leaves, crumbled

12 whole cloves

6 cloves garlic, halved

4 cups ice cubes

The first step in making corned beef is to create a brine in which the brisket will be cured. To a large pot, add the water, salt, sugar, cinnamon stick, pickling spices, peppercorns, mustard, ginger, bay leaves, cloves and garlic. Heat the water until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and add the ice to expedite the cooling of the brine. Stir the mixture to help dissolve the ice. Trim the fat from the brisket so that it’s approximately ¼ inch thick.

Place the brisket in a large ziplock bag. If your brisket is too large, you may have to cut it in half and place it into two separate bags. Place the bag into a large bowl or pot. Once the brine has cooled completely, pour it into the ziplock bag so that the brisket is completely covered. Seal the bag and place the bowl or pot into the refrigerator. The curing process will take place over five days. Once each day, massage the bag to mix its contents and ensure that the brisket is still completely covered by the brine. After three-five days, remove the beef from the brine and rinse it well under water. Place the beef into a pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the beef for 3½ to 4 hours until the beef is tender (about 50 minutes/pound).

Here are a couple ideas for side dishes to go with the corned beef:

Sautéed CabbageServes 4

4 leaves green cabbage

4 leaves purple cabbage

1 large carrot

2 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

To prepare the cabbage, stack up the leaves and roll them into a log. Cut the log into thin slices, about 1/8 to ¼ inch thick. After removing the outer peel from the carrot, use a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips of carrot. To a large saucepan over low heat, add the butter and garlic. Cook the garlic until the butter is melted. Turn up the heat to medium and add the cabbage, carrots, celery salt and pepper. Stir to coat the cabbage and carrots with the butter and garlic. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, until the cabbage and carrots are tender.

Boiled PotatoesServes 4

1½ pounds red potatoes, unpeeled

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup chopped parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Chop the potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Place them in a large pot and cover them with cold water. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook the potatoes for approximately 10-12 minutes, until a fork can be easily inserted. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Drain the potatoes. Add the melted butter, salt, pepper and parsley to the pot and mix to coat the potatoes. I recommend making extra potatoes to use for corned beef hash (I’ll post my recipe later this week!).